MatthewG.
MatthewG.'s JournalHerschel Walker - Worst Candidate Ever?
Georgia’s Senate race is over and thankfully, Raphael Warnock, a man of intelligence and integrity, won.
Herschel Walker’s historical significance will likely lie in being remembered as the worst Senate candidate of the 21st century, and possibly the worst candidate for high office in American history.
Intellectually incoherent to the point of dumbness, politically ignorant, prone to wild lies and exaggerations, violently abusive in his personal life, despised by his former partners and son, and a shocking moral hypocrite who supported a complete ban on abortion while having been credibly accused of paying for two and also claiming it would have been no big deal if the allegations were true, I doubt a satirist could have come up with a fictional caricature less favorable than the reality.
I’ll say one good thing about Mr. Walker, though. His strongly articulated pro-werewolf stance was a refreshing change from politics as usual.
Conservatives won't abandon Walker because most religious conservatives are pro-hypocrisy
Regarding the Walker story, it’s important not to make the mistake of believing that religious conservatives consider hypocrisy bad.
Many religious conservatives consider hypocrisy to be a ‘good’ thing. From their perspective, morality is absolute and unchanging, though not everyone can live up to that absolute standard, and it’s better to preach a moral standard one can’t live up to - or doesn’t even try to live up to - than to promote a “false” or “relativist” standard.
One conservative writer - I forget which - even said (paraphrase) “hypocrisy is a liberal sin, but it’s not one of ours.” Heck, nearly all conservatives flat out said they would have voted for Roy Moore even if they knew for an absolute fact that all allegations of pedophilia made against him were true. Why? Because they’ll say he promoted a “godly” agenda even if he was unable to live by one.
It’s largely pointless to demand that religious conservatives judge their candidates on the basis that their actions conflict with their professed morality, although some independents may be reachable on this sort of thing.
15 Years From Now, Most Republicans will be Disclaiming Trump
Trump’s slippery and cunning, but this time I think the chains are really falling. I don’t think he’ll go to prison, but I’d say he’s very likely to be indicted, and on the losing end of multiple court actions.
I’d guess that 15 years from now, or perhaps even less, many or most prominent Republicans will be saying “I never really liked Trump”, “I was always deeply suspicious of the guy,” and “I always had problems with Trump’s ethical flaws.”
We may even get a number of Republicans saying “Trump was never a real conservative!”
They’ll probably support nearly the exact same policies Trump stood for, though.
Thank You, Biden, For Calling Out Republican Fascism.
Biden’s calling it like it is, and speaking truth to the Republican Party.
Significant partly because it’s true, of course, but also because Biden, generally seen as a moderate capable of bipartisanship, is the one saying it, and not a firebrand or hard left populist.
We should be doing everything we can to hang the “F” word on the GOP. They’ve earned it.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3616105-biden-says-extreme-maga-philosophy-is-like-semi-fascism/
Biden's Presidency is One of the Most Successful and Transformative In Decades
Biden may not be as exciting as Obama, but his Presidency will be remembered for its significant, transformative effects on the United States, with lasting impacts on health care, the environment, infrastructure, and other areas.
It’s an impressive series of legislative accomplishments, which he pulled through with a razor-thin Senate majority, and even more amazingly - given how rancorous and toxic American politics is - many, like his infrastructure bill, enjoyed bipartisan support. I suspect Biden’s many years in the Senate have given him skills at consensus-building most of his recent predecessors have lacked.
Add to that his successes in getting federal judges nominated, and navigating the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and he may end up being remembered as one of the most important Presidents in a very long time.
Biden wasn’t my first choice (if it matters, I supported Elizabeth Warren in the primary), and I have a few quibbles with how he’s handled certain policy issues, but in this tumultuous political moment, I’m sure glad he’s sitting in the White House.
A good summary from Politico, below:
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“Passage of the Inflation Reduction Act will make Biden one of the most legislatively successful presidents of the modern era. We once noted that the mismatch between the size of Biden’s ambitions and his margins in Congress made it seem like he was trying to pass a Rhinoceros through a garden hose. It ended up being more like a pony, but it’s still pretty impressive.
To wit:
— American Recovery Act: $1.9 trillion
— Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: $550 billion
— Chips and Science Act: $280 billion
— Inflation Reduction Act: ?$700 billion
That’s a nearly $3.5 trillion agenda. The scope of the issues addressed is notable: the pandemic and its economic fallout, highways, bridges, broadband, rail, manufacturing, science, prescription drug prices, health insurance, climate change, deficit reduction and tax equity.
He also expanded NATO, passed a new gun safety law and passed a bill to address the effects of vets exposed to toxic burn pits. Five out of seven of these laws — all but the two biggies, the ARP and IRA — received significant Republican support.
There’s not much debate anymore over whether Biden has been a consequential president. In the long run, his first two years may be remembered as akin to LBJ when it comes to moving his agenda through Congress.”
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2022/08/07/the-politics-of-making-history-00050228?nname=playbook&nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&nrid=0000014e-f0ed-dd93-ad7f-f8edad790000&nlid=630318
Climate Bill Passes - Biden Becomes One of Our Greatest Environmental Presidents
The Climate Bill passes! And among other things, Biden secures a place in history as one of America’s most significant environmental stewards.
Biden may not be as exciting as Obama was, but his accomplishments in office are proving significant and transformative. In this tumultuous political moment, I am very glad to have him in the White House.
My Thoughts on Afghanistan- A Painful but Necessary Step, Like Dental Surgery
My thoughts on the news from Afghanistan.
I feel Biden was given a bad hand by his predecessors and played it as best as he could. The Afghan war was long-ago lost and likely unwinnable from day one; on top of that, the Pentagon and its generals seem to have botched things mightily and repeatedly lied about and hid unpleasant truths related to the conflict.
It was an ugly debacle, and Biden probably did the best thing he could do, which is fold rather than double down on an unwinnable war and what would have essentially become a colonial occupation if the situation had gone on in perpetuity. The pullout wasn’t handled well, but a lot of that seems to be the fault of lousy, overly-optimistic intelligence assessments regarding the situation. His speech struck me as a reasonably clear explanation to the public of why he took a difficult but necessary decision.
I don’t think anyone could describe this a stellar moment for Biden’s administration, but it was an adult one, painful but needed. I actually had dental surgery today and that wasn’t a lot of fun either, but if I had put it off for a year or three, that might have saved me short term expenses, stress, and pain but would have led to vastly more unpleasantness at some future point.
Politically, voters aren’t going to like seeing the chaos, but I’m not sure how much they’re going to care about the issue in a few months, and I don’t think anybody not still part of the dying and discredited neoconservative movement seriously thinks Afghanistan was a winnable conflict. It certainly doesn’t seem like our military establishment learned a heck of a lot from Vietnam. I’d also say this ending to the conflict firmly secures Bush Jr’s place as the worst President of the last fifty years or more. (Yes, I think his two disastrous wars caused more damage than Trump’s administration, even if Trump was probably the worst human being to ever sit in the Oval Office and managed to exacerbate the Afghanistan mess.) I do hope Biden can save as many Afghan refugees as possible: surely we owe Afghans who cooperated with America’s occupation that much.
The Middle East remains a turbulent hotspot, and in the future the United States can hopefully redefine its geopolitical interests in a more modest way. America’s credibility as a superpower is shot, but what else is new? I think we all know the days of a unipolar world are behind us, and the United States isn’t going to dominate the 21st Century the way it did the 20th.
I'm very impressed by Joe Biden
I’m a Democrat, and, frankly, I would have voted for ANYONE over Trump. Heck, I’d put an earwig in the Oval Office over Trump.
That said, Biden was not my first or even second choice for the job. I was more drawn to Elizabeth Warren’s intellectual acumen and understanding of regulatory policy.
Nonetheless, I’ve been very impressed by Biden thus far. He really seems to have grasped the need for systemic change, and has shown the ability to unify his entire party, and large segments of moderate voters relatively unattached to partisan politics, behind a vision of government as an active force for public uplift.
I now think Biden may end up being one of the best Presidents of my lifetime.
Anyone else here deeply impressed by Biden?
Biden has many advantages, one being that he's sane.
There’s an exchange in the 1980’s film ‘Manhunter’ (the first movie based on a novel featuring Hannibal Lecter) that keeps coming to mind as I observe the events of this election.
In the film, FBI agent Will Graham is talking to an imprisoned Lecter, who he caught.
Lecter says to him (paraphrase) : “you must think you’re smarter than me, since you caught me.”
To which Graham replies :”I’m not smarter than you, Dr. Lecter. But I do have advantages over you. One of them is that I’m sane.”
Now Biden, is, in fact, smarter than Trump. But in terms of cold politics, I just have to think one of his biggest advantages is that he’s obviously a sane, emotionally mature, adult.
This was highlighted in the recent debate, which sent Trump nosediving in the polls. It’s a given that partisans on the left and right saw whatever they wanted to see. But I suspect the average person not into politics who watched any portion of the debate basically thought “wow! Trump’s an obnoxious nut! I’d rather not see him in charge any longer.”
I’ll go further and say Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior - “Arrest Hillary! Arrest everyone! Make every day Trump day!” - isn’t helping him either.
I watched Trump. He looks weaker to me.
I Just watched the clips of Trump leaving WR and entering the White House. He looks weaker to me and I think gives the impression of being slightly deflated.
His base is of course going to be ecstatic and claim that he’s invincible, l but I don’t think this is going to play especially well to undecideds. I suspect they won’t see “strength” so much as “putting on an act.”
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Member since: Mon May 1, 2017, 08:03 AMNumber of posts: 362